Playlist

Download this while you wipe the sleep-crust from your eyes.

1. “Good Shoes” by Galileo Galilei, from Portal
2. “Newsong” by tacica, from Newsong
3. “66db” by Yuki, from Powers of Ten
4. “Black Party” by 80kidz, from Hotstuff
5. “Bubble” by 80kidz, from Hotstuff
6. “Hekireki (Acoustic)” by Last Alliance, from c.s.c20022001
7. “Polyrhythm Winter” by Fact, from Burundanga
8. “No Mans Land” by Koda Kumi, from Japonesque
9. “Holyman” by Aco, from Luck
10. “Yureru” by Laid Back Ocean, from Bifrost
11. “Beautiful” by Laid Back Ocean, from Bifrost
12. “Robison” by Michiru, from Bitter & Sweet

Notes

It has been my experience that sophmore albums often do not live up to their predecessors. But Galileo Galilei begins 2012 by bucking that trend with Portal. I can’t think of a reason you shouldn’t get it.

Powers of Ten is a large collection of Yuki’s single work, i.e. Yuki from Judy and Mary. ‘66db’ is an old song, from 2002 I believe, but it has always been one of my favorite Yuki songs. It may not grab your attention right away; it’s one of those songs you have to let build up. But at some point the fusion of the music and lyrics will hook you.

It can’t decide which new mini-album I like more: the electronic synth beats of Hotstuff by 80kidz, or the wonderful rock melodies of Bifrost by Laid Back Ocean—only their second release. They do not compete over the same genre by any mean; Laid Back Ocean uses some electronic sounds in their music, but nothing compared to the DJ trio of 80kidz. I included two tracks from each so you could come to your own decision. Both are great in my opinion, but listen for yourself and see if you have a preference.

Fact is one of those Japanese bands that has toured outside of Asia, particularly in America. The punk/hard-rock band can get away with this their songs are almost always in English; little beyond the ethnicity of the members gives away that Fact is in fact a decade-old Japanese band. Their latest album, Burundanga, is better than previous releases in my opinion. It includes a little more experimentation with synths and whatnot, especially in the earlier tracks, but the overall result is a more memorable and enjoyable album than ones like In the Blink of an Eye.

Yet here I am working on a game.

Of Course Things Are Different

For one, I am still not in the game industry, and still not planning on it. The project Wall and I are developing is purely indie in form and process. Its roots are firmly in the grass.

The truth of the matter is that our game is one stepping stone on the path to a greater goal: we want to empower all of the would-be game developers out there. The creative people who are scared away by the Big Bad Industry. The men and women with more talent for fun design than computer science and linear algebra. Wall and I seek to create the tools necessary to bring game design to the doorstep of the masses, and by doing so we hope that will cause a surge in independent game development, delivering a much needed dent in the existing industry that can barely stop humping piles of cash long enough to squash an innovative idea with a forced franchise sequel.

Are we pioneers in this regard? No. Companies have attempted similar things before.

Can we do better than they did? Without a doubt.

Is that arrogant? Absolutely. But I prefer the term ‘confident’.

Nonetheless, at the end of the day we need to make a living. That is one reason we are making the game we are making, as well as future titles assuming all goes to plan. That’s also why the other day I was asking what you think about when it comes to paying for games. I will have more specific questions for you as we get closer to pushing our product all over you through heavy, constant, “Make the pop-ups stop!” style advertising. Brace yourself for the future!

But first I need to get these bullets to render properly….

Or let me ask a more important question: what qualities of a game are important to you when it comes to determining how much you are willing to pay for it?

Playlist

Download the pod-thing-cast-music-stuff.

1. “Jammin’ the Empire” by lecca, from Step One
2. “Maoh” by Onmyo-za, from Maou-Taiten
3. “Fireworks Continue” by ent, from Solanin Original Soundtrack
4. “Lookilus” by Mudy on the Sakuban, from Mudy in Squall
5. “Hakai no Hate” by Malice Mizer, from Bara no Seidou
6. “Mouth of Providence” by the Novels, from Cardiod
7. “INFORMER” by lecca, from Step One
8. “Tiny Pride” by clammbon, from clammbon—Columbia Best
9. “Passion (Live)” by Utada Hikaru, from Wild Life
10. “Shadow of Sorrow” by Kow Otani, from Haibane Renmei Original Soundtrack

Notes

First of all, last week we featured a song from Asian Kung-Fu Generation’s latest album Best Hit AKG. That album is the first to be released on American shelves, so go out and buy it. With seventeen tracks it’s a wonderful album to own and will hopefully help fuel future releases by the band here in the United States.

Second, I added two tracks from lecca’s new album Step One, released on the 25th. She is one of my favorite artists. But the two tracks are not exactly representative of the album, which as a whole is slower and has more of a relaxed, R&B feel. I still say City Caravan is a better album, and her cleverly eponymous debut album, but Step One is a close third.

The other songs are a mixture of those you probably know by now, whether from our podcasts or just because (i.e. Utada), and some that may have slipped by your radar. Hope you enjoy, and maybe next week I’ll get that recording right!

Why?

Because We All Own One

As you become an adult you become more aware of the things you have to take care of. These require some basic learning. Such as balancing a bank account or two, your credit score, and performing simple tasks to your car like checking the oil and rotating the tires. For complex issues you go to a professional accountant or mechanic, but as an adult you can handle some of the basics yourself.

Shouldn’t we have the same attitude towards our computers?

One of the things computers are best at is performing repetitive tasks so that we don’t have to. Yet if I asked you to automatically download content from a list a web pages, I wonder how many of you could do it. Don’t take this is a criticism of any lack of ability on your own part; it is also our fault—as the designers of computer software—for not making it easier for users to do these types of things. I believe programmers like myself have not made computers nearly as useful as they could be for the average person by making it easier to automate certain tasks. Apple came pretty close with HyperCard though.

If you own a computer I think you could do yourself a big favor by learning just a little about a scripting language. Maybe something like Python. It is very empowering what you can do with a little knowledge, like being able to find and move all songs out of a folder by a certain band. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to do simple things like that for yourself? And then when you need a complex program, like with mechanics, you go to a professional; but the small stuff you can confidently handle yourself.

For our part, we computer programmers need to make it easier for users to empower themselves. Moving away from the text-based form of scripting and into something more GUI-involved would be a step in the right direction. But that’s a whole other huge subject which I will probably be talking more about in the future.

Just remember: you can tell your computer to do anything you want. Wouldn’t you like to see merely the tip of that iceberg?

I would like some answers in the comments. It could shape the direction of a possible future project.

Playlist

Download the podcast because you know you need it.

1. “Mirai no Hahen” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, from Best Hit AKG
2. “Damn It, Shut It, Release It” by Rayons, from After the Noise is Gone
3. “KFC” by BiS, from Primal
4. “Glass Skin” by Dir en grey, from Uroboros Remastered & Expanded
5. “Walking Together” by Goth-Trad, from New Epoch
6. “Bocchi” by the Cro-Magnons, from Ace Rocker
7. “Ichibanboshi” by MIO, from A Shining Star
8. “Melt” by FACT, from Burundaga
9. “Umbrella” by the Novels, from Cardiod
10. “V.I.P. feat. T-Pain” by Koda Kumi, from Japonesque
11. “Camouflage” by Scars Borough, from Which One?
12. “Deep Mind” by Buono, from Hatsukoi Cider

Notes

A best of album from Asian Kung-Fu Generation? What an awesome welcome to 2012! If you have never heard AKGF then, first of all, what the Hell is your problem. Second, go get this album. It is eighty-four minutes of unfiltered greatness. Fans may want it as well so that they can stop carrying multiple AKGF albums in their car. God I hated trying to change those things on long drives….

After the Noise is Gone is the first mini-album and release by Rayons. Their quiet, piano-based music is both soothing and piercing. Don’t let the title of the song fool you; this is as far from aggression as you could get. Rayons operates in the realm of the melancholy, and there they produce soulful, touching music.

I reviewed Uroboros Remastered & Expanded yesterday but wanted to add a track from it. Particularly this version of ‘Glass Skin’ since it was not on the American CD. It’s also one of those songs that people who aren’t generally fond of Dir en grey still seem to enjoy.

Goth-Trad is a Japanese electronic artist who has been around for quite a while. I’m talking late 90’s. Over a decade in the club scene has given him more than enough time to refine his skills through experimentation. For example, on New Epoch you can hear him play around with the infusion of exotic sounding elements, heard at the beginning of ‘Walking Together’. Goth-Trad does not get the mainstream recognition he deserves in my opinion; his albums are fantastic pieces of work.

Ah the new Koda Kumi album…. That it features T-Pain should tell you a lot already. Koda Kumi may as well be a literal bridge connecting America to Japan, with people walking over her in the process. I’ll restrain from a long digression. Anyways—Japonesque is actually not a bad album. You may not like it if you are still holding on to the image of a purer Koda Kumi who was providing music for Final Fantasy 10, but that singer has long been dead. But if you enjoy club dance and R&B music then Japonesque isn’t a bad choice.

And finally, Buono! That’s right, I sucker-punched you with a Hello Project group. You can’t escape them. They are everywhere. And as soon as they join forces with Hatsune Miku we are all well and truly fucked.

Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer: 4–6, 7–5, 7–6 (4), 6–2.

Just putting it out there on official record.

There are enough changes here to warrant a look from listeners who already own the original.

Remastered

The moment the album begins you can hear the qualitative difference from the original. The opening instrumental ‘Sa Bir’ is longer, more diverse, and has an even more exotic ambiance surrounding it. Every song on the album receives similar modification. Most are not elongated, but they are universally more crisp in their sound, particularly with respect to vocals. Some songs on the original slurred together vocals by Kyo and supporting vocals by Die, Toshiya, and Kaoru into a gutteral torrent. The remastered versions have surgically pulled these elements apart and balanced them in a way that affords them each an individual impact instead of a group sucker-punch.

The net result of all this cleaning and scrubbing of noise is that the remastered album now sounds even more experimental than the original.

Expanded

The version of ‘Glass Skin’ featured this time is the Japanese language version, originally a bonus track on the American release. Now it simply replaces the original. When Kyo uses English in songs it is often unintelligible in my opinion, so I find this replacement to be a welcome change. The same is true for ‘Dozing Green’; the English version is gone.

Two new tracks appear, stretching the original track list from thirteen to fifteen. In between ‘Ware, Yami Tote…’ and ‘Bugaboo’ are the songs ‘Hydra—666’, with significant vocal clean-up, and then ‘Bugaboo Respira’, a modification of the A Capella lead-in to ‘Bugaboo’ that originally appeared on the Japanese vinyl edition of Uroboros. This is the most unclean track on the album in terms of recording quality; you can actually hear Kyo tapping on something. The raw, unfiltered sound provides an interesting thematic turning point. However, the remastered quality of ‘Bugaboo’, which immediately follows, sounds too sharp for the transition to come across smoothly. The bump in quality between the two tracks feels like an unfortunate hiccup.

Overall

Uroboros Remastered & Expanded is exactly what it claims to be. The remastering effects are blatantly noticeable, all creating a more refined and less chaotic result. While there was little wrong with Uroboros to begin with, this album shows that there is clearly room for improvement. The addition of two extra songs and Japanese versions of what were originally songs with English lyrics is more than welcome. They both provide what is likely new material for many listeners while also enhancing the cohesive feeling of the entire album. Now Uroboros really just sounds like one long, sixty-six minute track.

People who already own Uroboros should not overlook the Remastered & Expanded version. There is a thorough amount of modifications and editing that warrants another purchase in my opinion. Let’s be clear, it is not a remix album by any stretch. Instead it is a better version of what was already a fantastic album.

How could that not be a great thing?